Swanage Railway | Spring Steam Gala | 27th-29th March 2026

That's really interesting because I do see where John Petley is coming from but was heading to this thread originally to express the opposite opinion!

When I was a kid in the 1980/90s, I can remember going to Swanage at the end of a summer holiday and being gutted that it was Whiston (I think) on loan from Foxfield running the service, or so many KESR trips when I was desperately hoping for anything other than an Austerity and being disappointed. I had exactly the same feelings John describes above.

Since getting back into the hobby in the 2010s, my head has absolutely been turned by Austerities. I remember a KESR trip on a day when a USA tank and Austerity were sharing services and the Austerity was by far the highlight up Tenterden bank. I realise I'd been doing them a disservice as a kid/teenager and they were actually extremely entertaining locos on preserved lines with decent loads and climbs. It does feel like they've become more appealing to established lines as gala visitors in recent years and I'm all for that.

Intrigued to see how they're deployed when the timetable's out. My starting point for planning my day there will be the Austerities, 6880, the T3 and the Mogul uphill.

 

Swanage gala timetable live btw - no loco allocations though https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/uploads/spring_gala_timetable.pdf

 

Interesting to see what might constitute a bar car if set A set has the buffet, which I assume is S9015

 

Will be very interesting as they have just flogged the purpose built bar car!

 

I like the look of that timetable. Keeping a regular 45-minute two-set base on the regular part of the route and slotting a River Frome set and part-line freight workings around it looks like a good way of creating variety and giving a bit of recovery time too (I know there will be locos to attach/detach but the amount of time at Norden in both directions and at River Frome looks like it offers leeway). Very intrigued to see the locos diagrams now as my window for being there is pretty much 10.45-15.45 on the Friday.

 

Most likely a bar set up in BSK 35059 again, the same as last year’s Autumn Steam Gala.